The present invention relates to a solid preparation for oral hygiene, which conducts oral cleaning by bubbling and in addition, is improved in exhibition of the effects of the medicinal component contained therein.
Although there has been an attempt to incorporate an orally-usable medicinal component such as halitosis-preventing component in a quasi-drug or a drug in the orally soluble form, such a preparation does not exhibit satisfactory halitosis-preventing effects or the like.
As preparations containing a bubbling component and a medicinal component, an effervescent tablet as described in WO93/00886 and a gargle as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 1-275521 (U.S. Ser. No. 167,504) are known. The former one is, however, a compound exhibiting its drug efficacy when its medicinal component is absorbed from digestive tracts such as intestines. An aqueous solution obtained in advance by dissolving the preparation in water is orally taken. The bubbling component is added to the preparation only for promoting the dissolution of the medicinal component. The latter one is a gargle used in the form of an aqueous solution obtained by dissolving a tablet, thereby dissolving its components in water.
As described above, a preparation which comprises an orally-usable medicinal component and a bubbling component and is caused to bubble and is dissolved inside of the oral cavity with a view to orally releasing the medicinal component, thereby exhibiting its effects, while carrying out breath freshening and cleaning by bubbling is not known at all.
The present inventors have therefore made various investigations on an orally-usable solid preparation which comprises a bubbling component and a medicinal component acting in the oral cavity and is caused to bubble and is dissolved inside of the oral cavity upon use. As a result, it has been found that when a preparation comprising a high-concentration bubbling component and an orally-usable medicinal component at a specific ratio is used, the oral cavity is cleaned, particularly fur coating on the dorsum of tongue is effectively removed, by bubbling in the mouth, and the orally-usable medicinal component acts on the filiform papillae on the dorsum of tongue exposed by the removal, whereby the drug efficacy of the medicinal component shows a synergistic improvement. It has also been found that if the preparation is designed to effect bubbling prior to dissolution of the medicinal component, adhesion efficiency of the medicinal component to the filiform papillae on the dorsum of tongue shows a drastic improvement, thereby sustaining the drug efficacy, leading to the completion of the present invention.
In the present invention, there is thus provided a process for oral hygiene treatment, which comprises taking a solid preparation (which will hereinafter be called xe2x80x9csolid preparation of the present inventionxe2x80x9d) containing the following components (a), (b) and (c):
(a) an effervescent component: 15 to 90 wt. %,
(b) an orally-usable medicinal component: 0.001 to 10 wt. %, and
(c) an excipient: not greater than 84.999 wt. % at a weight ratio of (a):(b) ranging from 10:1 to 1000:1 to bring it in contact with water in the mouth, thereby causing bubbling and dissolution of it in the water; and swallowing the resulting aqueous solution or discharging it out of the mouth.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided the above-described process, wherein by controlling the component ratio of (a):(b) in each part of the solid preparation, the bubbling owing to the component (a) is rendered to proceed in the initial stage of dissolution in the mouth and the dissolution of the component (b) is rendered to proceed even after completion of the bubbling.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is also provided the use of the solid preparation of the present invention for oral hygiene.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a solid preparation for oral hygiene which is dissolved inside of the oral cavity upon use, wherein the component (a) and the component (b) differ in the relative concentration in each part of the preparation, more specifically, the relative concentration of the component (a) is high in the part of the preparation wherein dissolution occurs earlier in the mouth and that of the component (b) is high in the part wherein dissolution occurs later.